I'm not sure how to rate this book. I bought it thinking it was an introduction of these great thinkers to the layperson. I was wrong. It's highly academic, using terminology form theological and , philosophical study, literary analysis and historical ideology. I didn't understand half of what they were saying. This doesn't mean it was a bad book. The authors did an excellent job of introducing the thinker and giving a fair overview of their life, works and controversies. If I was a scholar of the higher order, this would be an desired book for my studies. As I am a lay person with a singular difficulty in understanding theology and philosophy, I found it hard to muddle through. ( )

Christianity